Colin cree st



I COATING 0R PLASTIC.

5 UI Ubb now: Uuvv C. C. ST. CLAIR.

Corpse PIGSBIVBIY Pate'nt ed July 23, 1867.

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4 Lmm Patent No. 67,145, dated July 23, 18t37.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: V I

Be it knoivn that I, COLIN CREE ST. CLAIR, of the city and county of Washington, and-District of Columbia, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Preserving Dead Bodies; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad .to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification, and in which- Figurel is a top view of my invention, sbowing'the body in place in the mould before the-composition is filled in.

Figure 2 is a top view of the solid case or sarcophagus,-for1ned by the process hereafter described.

Figure 3 is a transverse section of the mould, with an end view of the body enclosed.

Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

In this invention a liquid composition or cement is poured around the body in a suitable mould, which,

. drying and hardening, efie ctually preserves the body, and at the same time serves the purpose of a coflin r sarcophagus. In the drawings I i A A represent the mould or flash, in which the body B is suspended by means of the wires or flat hoops C,

- the body resting on twometal strips or boards, extending longitudinally with the mould, and supported by the wires or cords c c passing transversely under them. The board or strips may be connected by cords, so as to be increased or diminished in width at pleasure for difl'erent sizes of bodies. A glass plate, D, is placed over 4 the face of the corpse, and a small tube, E, is inserted into the chest or other suitable part of the body, and left standing verticallyin that position, projecting a few inches above the body. The composition which is to cheese the body is then poured into'thc mould and left till it hardens, when thc body may be taken out, thus encased, and transported, buried, or entombed. The glass plate D may be omitted if desired. The tube E must be inserted, however, and allowed to remain a few days for the escape of the gases formed by the decompositionof the body, which will'probably have taken place to some extent before the body is placed in the embalmers hands. After a few days the tube E may be removed, and theliole formed by it filled up with lead or with the composition used for encasing the body. I do not design to limit myself to any particular kind of composition. For the present I use a compound of one part plaster of Paris mixed with two parts of% cem I intend to use any composition or substance t at may epoure around the body. in the mou an which will afterwards become hard by drying. The composition that I have described is a very excellent one for this purpose, as it becomes hard'in a few hours, and when once dried ncascs .the body in asolid, durable sarcophagus of stone. The glass plate D I make with a'flange, d, which is buried in the composition or ceme ut, and is firmly held by it when dry. Around the edges of it a collarof thin leather, oiled silk, or other suitable 7 material may be used, sutficiently wide to cover and protect the hair if it is desired to do so. ti Abody thus enclosed will be preserved from decay for. an indefinite period. The .air is completely excluded from it,nnd oxidation cannot take place. This method of enclosing the body will be invaluable in cases where death has ensued from any loathsome or infectious disease. In such a case the body will be perfectly insulated, and all danger from contaW No noxious eflluvium can possibly escape through the hardened cement. It will also beinvaluab'le where the burial ground is low and saturated with'water. In such ground corpses cannot be preserved for any length of timeby the ordinary means of burial. Wood coffi'ns soon decay, and any kind of-metal corrodcs and is destroyed almost as soon as wood. But a cement, properly made I u I have described, turns to a stone and becomes harder and more indestructible by age. A body encased in it will bep'reserved equally wellin wet as in dry ground. A sarcophagus of this kind is actually cheaper than the ordinary coflin. If, however, it is desired .to use a cofiin, the body, encased as I have descrfoed, may be. enclosed in one.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire'to secure by Letter Patent, is v 1. The preserving of dead bodies by cncasing them in liquid cement compositions, which harden by drying,

s'ubstantiallyas and for the purpose described.

.2. The composition described above, composed of' one part plaster of Paris with two parts of hydraulic cement, substantially as and for the purpose specified. A

3. The use of the glass plate D and the tube E, in connection with the encasing of bodies in the composition or cement, substantially as and for the purpose described.

COLIN CREE ST. CLAIR.

Witnesses: d Jms H. Gnn'insr, Case. A. Parana; 

